BUFORD, GA – Recardo Wimbush, a former Georgia Tech football player, has been charged after police say he kept his 13-year-old son in a room for most of the past two years.

Police say an investigation started by an anonymous tip to the Division of Family and Children Services lead to the 33-year-old and his wife, 37-year-old Therian Wimbush, being charged with cruelty to children in the first degree and false imprisonment.

It is being alleged that the couple imprisoned the oldest of their ten children for almost two years in a room with concrete walls and a hardwood floor. The only light came from the small amount of daylight that made it through the one window in the room that had been painted white.

The room had no books or any form of entertainment. In the time he was kept in the room, he was fed at regular times and allowed out to use the bathroom, but was not allowed to attend school or have access to his nine siblings.

According to the criminal arrest warrant, “Therian and Recardo justified [the boy’s] treatment in Juvenile Court by saying [he] molested three of the younger siblings. [The boy] stated that he was locked in the bedroom located in the basement for taking the family DVD player and lying about it.”

A lock was later added to room’s door because the parents claim the boy had tried repeatedly to run away. After the Department of Family and Children Services made their first visit on June 16, the couple were not charged with a crime and were allowed to keep all of their children, including the victim.

But a few days later, after the investigation revealed the severity of the abuse, a judge ordered all of the children to be placed in DFCS custody and charged both parents with cruelty to children and false imprisonment.

Police said Therian and Recardo Wimbush are expected to turn themselves into police sometime today. According to Gwinnett County Detention Center records, the couple were arrested on simple battery charges in 2005.

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